The House Regulatory Reform Commission on Tuesday ended its final scheduled meeting before summer without voting on legislation broadly supported by law enforcement agencies and public utilities but strongly opposed by the scrap metal recycling industry.

"I'm completely disappointed in my colleagues for believing some of the rhetoric that's been coming out on this," said state Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), who sponsored the package alongside Reps. Paul Muxlow (R-Brown) and Jim Ananich (D-Flint). "This is not about punishing scrap yards, this is about convictions, and we can't seem to get those."

Michigan ranked 10th in the nation for scrap metal theft insurance claims between 2009 and 2011, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, and Detroit-Warren-Livonia ranked fifth amongst large metropolitan areas. The problem is not limited to urban areas, according law enforcement officials, who have described stolen farm equipment, railroad crossing weights and cemetery decorations.

House Bills 4593, 4594 and 4595, developed after a lengthy workgroup process, seek to update Michigan's existing metal theft law by adding new teeth -- a paper trail of sorts -- to help law enforcement officers gather evidence on thieves who are gaming the system by selling stolen goods for profit.

But too many of those teeth would end up biting small businesses, according to representatives from the scrap recycling industry, who agree that metal theft is a major problem but do not believe that proposed reporting requirements are an appropriate solution.

"There are some bad actors," George Curran, legal counsel for the Responsible Recyclers Association of Michigan, said today during committee testimony. "But the current legislation before you also punishes the good actors. We believe that more than 95 percent of companies doing business in Michigan are doing it the right way."

Scrap dealers are already required to make a copy of a seller's photo identification, take their thumbprints and make them sign a statement indicating that the material is theirs to sell. But law enforcement officials say there are too many loopholes in the law that allow those "bad actors" to get away with their crimes even after arrest.

The proposed legislation would require scrap yards to photograph all incoming metal, document the names of employees who approve any purchases and institute a three-day delay for payments on commonly-stolen items, such as catalytic converters, air conditioning units and copper wire.

Instead of handing out cash for those items, dealers would be required to mail payments to a physical address -- not a P.O. Box -- provided by the seller or provide them with an electronic reimbursement card to be used at an on-site ATM outfitted with a camera.

Critics say the proposal would unfairly burden scrap yards small and large, many of whom are already working proactively to curb metal theft in their communities. The answer to metal theft is not added regulations, they argue, but proper enforcement of current law.

"If we had enough police to do the job, we wouldn't need this," state Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, said last week during previous committee testimony. "It seems to me that this is requiring businesses to basically do police work, which I find disturbing."

The legislation is not intended as a personal attack on scrap yards, according to Tlaib, but it is certainly a personal issue for her. She began studying up three years ago when someone stole the catalytic converter from her car.

"Law and Order, watch it," she said. "There are arrests, and those arrests have to lead to convictions. In between, you need to gather evidence. And at the time of the transaction, that person is invisible. Sometimes the fingerprinting's not legible, sometimes the driver's license address is not current. It's just endless."

The Regulatory Reform Committee will not vote on the scrap metal theft legislation this month, according to Rep. Hugh Crawford, the chairman. Instead, all interested parties will be invited to participate in a summer workgroup with the hopes of finding common ground.

"Anybody that needs to a be a part of that group will be a part of that group," Crawford said. "We're not going to exclude anyone. Bill sponsors, scrap metal dealers, law enforcement agencies. I think everybody would like to get something accomplished."

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter.